If you ask the wife, she’ll tell you I have an obsession with watches. If you ask me, I’ll simply inform you that I have a distinct appreciation for quality time pieces that are affordable (usually), functional (always), and just look damn good. So when she asked me if I was interested in reviewing a wooden watch brand, I jumped at it.

You see, in the past year or two wooden watches have become a “thing”. Whether it’s a trendy thing, an “eco-friendly-let’s-save-the-world” thing, or a “let’s be more hip than the hipsters” thing I couldn’t tell you, but it’s definitely a “thing”. I tend to lean more towards the chunky, big faced stainless steel styles, but after discovering there are more than a few brands venturing into the wood market I’ve become curious.

To begin with, the folks at Jord get kudos for making the packaging so appealing. Being a fashion focused brand rather than an eco-friendly brand (according to their website), this should be expected, but in researching their competition I’ve found not everyone remembers that the packaging is part of the experience.

In addition to the nicely detailed box you also get a monogrammed pillow for the watch to wrap around. It was a nice surprise and a first for me, as I can’t recall having seen that in other luxury watch brands. Another point in Jord’s favor.

The model we were sent, the Sully, is a mid-sized watch made from cherry & maple wood with a 41mm case/bezel, 3 hand Citizen Miyota movement, “scratch proof” glass and a single action locking clasp. It looks just as good in person as on the Jord website and is very comfortable on the wrist (no splinters!). The design of the bezel and links in the bracelet are reminiscent of many stainless steel watches on the market, so the look will be familiar to many, but having it done up in these classy wooden tones does add something different to the experience. Being made out of wood, the watch is also extremely light weight, and I found myself forgetting I had it on. That could be a good or a bad thing depending on your personal taste.

I was really impressed with how smooth and crisp the details of the watch are, as I had some doubts about how well such a product could be executed. Sizing the watch wasn’t difficult at all (I own a set of watch tools), but I was surprised that I only had to removed one link to fit the watch to my wrist. My wrist is somewhere between 7 to 7 1/2 inches in circumference and I usually have to remove 4-6 links to fit my wrist with other brands. This may leave customers with bigger wrists needing to order parts. The articulation of the band is pretty good, however there were a few links whose movement was a little stiff, but unless you’re a watch snob like me, this probably won’t matter to you.

This is a beautiful piece and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, but I think Jord does need to be a little more focused on their quality control. Upon close examination, there was speck of paint or fragment of wood on the inside of the watch glass.

It’s not very noticeable, but it might make some folks nervous about the inner workings of the watch. Was it assembled in a clean environment? Is there going to be a bunch of saw dust or wood chips gumming up the gears? These are questions that hard core watch buyers may ask.

Another mark against them was the fact that there were a couple of faint scratches on the clasp of the watch.

I noticed these as soon as I removed the watch from the packaging and had to wonder how this happened even though the clasp was wrapped in a protective layer of plastic?

With an asking price of $139, the Sully is not the most expensive of Jord’s models or wood watches in general, but the level of craftsmanship displayed is stunning and should be a winner with both flower children and the fashion forward.

About the Author:

Esposo is B’s better half. In addition to being a musician, Esposo (which by the way means ‘husband’ in Spanish) is a writer, photographer and audio/visual engineer. He’s a comic book, sci-fi and watch fanatic and adores Baby Clumps. And his strikingly beautiful and talented wife. [editor’s note]

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